Key case



' Nov. 13, 1928 W. R. BUXTON- KEY CASE Filed Jan. 14, 1925 2 She'ets-Sheet 1 25pm E 4551,45 BY 7%: Z

' ATTORNEYS.

VEN TOR.

Nov. 13, 1928. 1,691,637

W. R. BUXTON KEY CASE Filed Jan. 14, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

' constitutes a, wide departure from present Patented Nov. 13, 1928.

UNITED 'STA WARNER R. IBUXTON, OF LONGMEADOW, MASSACHUSETTS.

KEY CASE,

Application filed January 14, 1925. Serial No. 2,333.

This invention lies inthe keycase art and relates primarily to improvements 1n the support, through the intermediary of which the key holders arepivotally connected to 5 the folder of the key case.

The invention marks a distinct and most important step in the development of the key case art in that it is directed to the improvement of the key holder su port. These supports, as found in the tra e in practical and commercial types, have chan ed very little from the early forms in whic they were 7 originally developed, notwithstanding that wide and rapid developments have been made in the key case art along other lines. The early form of support, shown in my prior U. S. Letters Patent No. "1,261,692, dated April 2, 1918, included two struck up ears to which the ends of a pivot rod were fastened. This type of support was soon displaced by that shown in my U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,423,909, in which the upper edge of the support was rolled over to encompass the pivot rod and was transversely slotted toreceive the key holders. On the development of the so called swivel key case, exemplified J by U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,404,736 granted January 31, 1922, on an invention of Frank G. Bowen, substantially the same type of support was used to 'afiord ,socketsto receive the ball heads of the key holders. The commercial swivel key case includes a support very much likethatzof the Bowen patent but having a rolled over portion of much smaller diameter in which the ballheads ofhooks, made as disclosedin myI prior U. S. 'Letters Patent No. 1,439,863, grantedj'December 26, 1922, arereceived. The present invention solves the problem of. providing a better support than'any heretofore used, from both the manufacturers andu'sers point of view, and with it a better key; case, in appearance, usefulness, strength and useful life. I Y a q The key holder support of this invention and former standards and is essentially characterized in that it is constructed in separate parts, between which the key holders are heldin a manner to permit their usual movements, and in that these parts are held to- Y gether by their interengagement without the,

' aid of other fastening means, whereby the accompanying drawings, in which Figs; 1 and 2 are. enlarged perspective 1 Fig. 9 is a still further enlarge parts and the key holders may be interen gaged and disengaged with convenience, as desired. g

To the manufacturer, the'key holder support of this invention offers betterrmanufacturing conditions. It can be made with improved accuracy by simple manufacturing 60 methods adapted to result in-uniformity of. product under the conditions of quantity" production manufacture. It can be made smaller in size, of thinnermetal and at the same time be'stronger andfar more attrace 06 tive in appearance than prior art supports. Its parts" can be separately and completely formed prior-to placing the books or key holders therein and the assembly of-the parts and of the hooks can be accomplished rapidly .70 by unskilled labor without the aid of tools. From both the points of view of manufacturer and user, a key case, having the key holder support of this invention, is a better article,--stronger, neater, more attractive in 76 appearance, and calculated to give greater and extended service over the types hereto-- fore prevalent. To the user, the invention also provides means whereby he is enabled. to readilyand conveniently remove and re- 80 place the key holders at his will and pleasure,

and yet ordinarily have them securely retained and connected to the case for operation in the normal manner. K There are many details contributing to the accomplishment of the broad objects above set forth,-and these will appear from the following description taken with the illus trative embodiment of the invention inthe views of the back and front pieces of the u p Fig. 3- is an enlarged front elevational .view, showing such pieces interengaged and the key holders assembled therein;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on the line.44 of Fig. 3;

' Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the front piece of the support;

. Fig. 6 is a small scale yiewof an open key case including the support of this invention;

. Figs. 7, 8 and 8 are enlarged front elevational. cross sectional and 'plan views showing a modification in the support;

cross secbeen faces of which are spaced from the body of plan view showing the holding the parts of of Fig. 12.

Referring to these drawings ;--the key holder support, in its simplest form, is shown in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive. It consists of two parts,a back piece 15 shown in Fig. 1, and a front piece 16 shown in Fig. 2, whlch parts are constructed so as to be conveniently interengaged and frictionally held together by their'interengagement in the normal assembled relation shown in Figs. 3 and 4. As

' shown. opposite edges of the back piece have rolled over to form flanges 17, the inner the back piece to form a slideway 1 8. The back piece is also provided with suitable means, such as the holes 19, whereby it may be attached, as by the usual rivets 20 to the central portion of the folder of the key case .A near the upper edge thereof. The front piece 16, as shown, is stamped out to form flanges 21 to fit in 'the slideway 18 and a. forwardly bulged portion 22, of approximately semi-circular cross sectional shape, forming a recess 23 which is open at the back but adaptedto be closed by the back piece 15 when interengaged with the latter.

The key holders, such as the snap-hooks h,

are adapted to be retained between the interengagcd but conveniently separable parts 15" and 16 in a manner to permit them to swing into and out of the key case and desirably, although not necessarily, in a manner to permit them to swivel. as well. Since the swivel feature is generally desired, I have chwen to illustrate a support adapted for this urpose,asbe' thebestandmostuseful orm of the invention but recognizing that theinvention is not confined to this feature. For. the swivel feature, the recess 23 constitutes a socket to receive the ball heads 5 of thekey holders (see Fig. 4) in a manner to permit the holders to s and swivel in the usual way. The forwa y bulged portion 22 is 4 provided with a series of longitudinally which the necked down and transversely portions of less width than the diameter of the ba 1 heads 1' which slots and of the ktzy holders, are received and by e key holders are guided in 7 their swinging movement.

Suitable provision is made to enable the V necked down portions j of the'key holders h to pass into the slots 24 and, as one example,

slots 24inthe. slots may be made, as shown, to extend to one edge of the front piece 16, preferably the upper edge. The key holder It may be rapidly and conveniently assembled in the front piece 16 prior to its engagement with the back piece 15. The front piece is held so that the open ends-of the slots 24 are uppermost and the hooks h are successively in-' serted 'in place. To do this, the hook is held upside down with its ball head 11 positioned adjacent the recess 23 in the rear of the front piece 16 and the hook is moved forwardl to carry the necked down portion j into t 1e slot 24 and the ball head i into the recess 23, after which the hook is swung downwardly into its normal pendant position. After all the hooks have been thus as- 'sembled, the front piece 16 is slid endwise into the slidway 18 in the back piece 15 and the two parts of the support are then so'interengaged that the recess 23 and slots 24 are effectively closed to prevent the escape of the key holders.

The two parts of the key holder support may be held against relative movement in. any suitable manner. As a practical matter, they may be held sufiiciently for some purposes by frictional engagement. One of the parts, such as the front piece, may be bowed slightly, as shown in Fig. 5, so that when it is slid into the back piece it is straightened out and placed under stress and, in tending to resume its original bowed form, presses against the back piece with a spring-like action and creates suflicient friction between the parts to avoid unintentional relative movement therebetween. A Aside from the *manufactur advantage in conveniently assembli the ey holders in their support, there is 1 e important advantage of being able to remove a key holder from the support with equal convenience. The operation of removing abroken key holder and replacing it wit a new one can be quickly and easily accomplished bv anyone without the aid of any special too]. Also, the user of the key case can change the keyholders at his own will and pleasure. He need carry only such keys as he will need to use on a particular occasion since he may readily remove the key holders ranging the ers may :keys not then needed. The key 'hol -be removed from the support withmuc greater facility than the keys can be removed "from'the key holders because it is simply necessary to slide the front iece 16 out of the back piece 15 far enoug to expose the .slot 24 which contains the desired key holder. I Oneis enabled to get along with a small key case by supplementing it with a number of'extra key holders for the keys are infrequently used and substituting the extra key holders for other key holders in the case whenever required While the .keys may bdremoved and re- Ill which 7 placed with the structure above ,described, a

fore described, includin the slidably inter- .engaged front and bac pieces 25 and 26 with a forwardly bulged and transversely slotted portion 27 in thefront piece to provide for the reception of the key holders h- 'i in the general manner above described. In

this case, however, the interengaged upper flanges 28 and '29 of the front and back pieces and 26 are disposed at an acute angle to the body or the back piece (see Fig.

' 9) and are somewhat wider than in the form above described. Also the. transverse slots do not extendto the upper edge of the front piece, but terminate adjacent thereto with enlargements which are large enough to permit the heads i of the key olders to be passed therethrough-.; The upper flange 29 of the back piece is made to overlie these enlargements 30 when the assembled parts of the \key holder occupytheir normal relative positions shownin Fig. 7. This u per flange 29, however, is' so constructe as for'example by scalloping its lower edge, as

' shown at 31 that, on a relatively small shifting of the front and back pieces all of the g. enlargements 30 will be simultaneously ex- 1 As with the posed. Any or all ofthe key holders may then be removed by swinging such key holder 71. upwardly until its head i comes under and can be-pulled through the uncovered enlargement 30. As shown, the enlarg ments 30 maybe uncovered by sliding the lfront piece 26 to the right (as viewed in ig. 7) a distance of not over half the center to center distance between successive hey holders 7:. or in other words, a less diswith the first described form of the inthan the minimum distance required vention. V first form' of key holder support, the two parts may be held against unntentional displacement by any suitable f; 'm0Bl1$,' such as those above described. Or the action of one part upon the other effected-by a separate spring for the purpose. Thus, I have shown a flat spring 33 having at each end a pair of oppositely extendin projections 34. (Fig. 10) designed to closely fit into corresponding recesses formed in the upper and lower flanges 28 of the front piece 26. This spring 33, which ISMdISPOS Qd at the rear of the front piece 26 and partially closes the normal opening 35 38 (Fig. 11) in the body portion of the back in therear end thereof, is made slightly longer than the distance between the pairs of recesses in which thejprojections. 34 are to be received with the result that when the projections are engaged'in these recesses, the sprin 33. is bowed rearwardly so as to press against the back piece 25' and create the desired friction between the parts.

Itis desirable to limit the relative movement between the front and back pieces to that necessary-for the exposure of the enlargements 30 in slots 36'. This enablesthe user to bring the two parts into the proper relative positions for the-removal of the key holders without requiring any particular care or attention on his part. That is, he simply pushes the front piece 26 to the right (Fig.- 7) as far as it will easily go and the. enlargements 30 will ,be found to be completely uncovered and subsequently pushes the front piece back until it reaches its normal limit and the enlargements will be found to be properly covered. As an illus trative. example of one suitable way of accomplishing this function of conveniently limiting the movement of the front and back ,pieces of the support, I provide at or near the central portion of spring 33 a slight projection 37, which is directedinto a recess piece 25. The length of this recess is such 1 as to permit the projection to slide therein over the necessary distance as above defined. At each end of recess 38 is a depression 39 into which the projection 37 enters to re-* leasably hold the front piece 26 ineither of the two positions into which it may be normally moved. The spring bears on theback piece at all times and frictionally holds the two parts of the key holder against un- 195 intentional relative movement. At the same time the parts may be shifted readily enough,

when desired, over the limited range necessary to uncover or cover the enlargements.

However, additional resistance is exerted by the spring 33 should further shifting of the parts beyond the normal limited range be attempted. The projection 37 rides out of recess 38 and is'forced backwardly, placing the'spring 33 under greater stress and thereby resisting separation of the parts. The increased frictional resistance does not prevent complete separation of the parts, should this for any reason be necessary, but it does deter the user from accidentally separating the parts and saves him the annoyance of getting the arts properly reassembled.

The spring 33, as just described, may obviously be equally Well used with the first described form of the invention, if desired. 1

The spring is useful, aside from its primary, function, to retain the heads i of the key holders 7:. in place prior to the interen age Iment of the front and back pieces. It eeps the heads within their proper limits and 9' prevents a head i from protruding from its recess and catching on the back piece 25 during assembly. It also guards a ainst the possibility of a head i on a key holder moving rearwardly in normal operation and entering and becominglodged in one of the hollow rivets by which the back piece 25 is secured to the key case.

It is desirable to avoid sharp edges. and corners'at the ends of the key holder support since they tend to wear the leather flaps of the folder of the key case which flaps are repeatedly drawn over such ends. For this reason I prefer to bend down the ends of the outwardly bulged ortion of the front piece so that generous y rounded andapproximately hemi-spherical end closures 41 are formed. The ends of the front piece 26, and'the ends of the slideway' in the back piece25, should be chamfered, or rounded off, to facilitate the interengagement of these parts.

It should ,be noted that each part of the support includes angularly bent portions which greatly increase the stiffness of the parts ;'and the resistance against bending, Just as an angle iron is stiffer than aflat bar of equal thickness. As a consequence, the parts may be made of considerably thinnerfmetal than has formerly been used.

' This advantage is increased by the use of forwardly bulge I ness of the front piece is afforded by the g through such plate, are concealed behind two parts which may each be made quite thin and yet, when combined, present all the rigidity and stiffness desired, The

front piece, notwithstanding its weakening b reason of the, transverse slots is, nevertli eless, sufiiciently stifi due to the angle iron section at the lower part thereof which includes the solid lower flange and the adjoining right angularly turned part of the portion. Increased s-ilfsecond form of the invention wherein the slots do'not extend entirely throughthe upper. flange. It should be noted that the resistance to bending is very important for if the support is bent rearwardly into bowed form to a sufiicient degree, the ke holder slots will spread and allow the hea s of the key holders to pass therethrough.

From a manufacturing view point, eachof the metal arts of the key case can be separately an completely formed and'the parts later amembled wlthout the use of tools. Generally, either the key holder sup-, P

port or the key holders themselves, usually the former, have been only partially formed,

leaving a bending operation to be performed after; the assembly of the key holders in their support. For example, the rolled over upper edge of the usual type of key holder support is not closed down until the heads of'the key holders have all been inserted therein. A rather diflicult operation is necessary to close down the roll of the usual metal parts. The parts of the present sup- 7 port may be formed by simpler manufacturmg methods and the roll, or bulged portion, in the front piece may be stamped out with precision producing a far more accurately formed, better working and smoother article than can be accomplished with the prior practice, which involved bending or rolling 'over the ed e of the support as the parts were assembled Aside from the advantages in the manufacture of the metal parts, the manufacturer secures decided advantages in the assembling of the parts, which may not only be effected with convenienceand dispatch in the simple manner already described, but can be effected by unskilled labor and without the use of tools or machinery. The rigid inspection, necessary heretofore where the socket portion of the support was formed by bending methods which were difficult to perform with uniform accuracy even by skilled o ratives, is avoided because the socket portlon can be die stamped with accuracy and precision and-a uniform product results with simpler manufacturing methods capable of' the front The plate, referred to, was so-located as to be en and scratched by .the ends of the keyholder adjacentthe entrance to the key retaining loop and the elimination of the plate overcomes this trouble, which was especially objectionable inhigh priced, expensively plated models and resulted in an early marrin of an attractive' finish. The location 0 the rivetsis important for other reasons than their concealment. They are applied to the suport as closel as possible to the point at which the loa from the key holders and the keys is applied.- The cantilever effect, due to the weight of the keys act-ingon the sup- I port at a considerable distance above the rivets, as with former methods, is avoided and with .it the tendency of the upper part ofthe support to pull away from the leather folder ard render the case unsightly in appearance.

' Entire concealment of the rivets may be effected by ap lying the support to a flap such as 45 igs. 12 and 13) which is stitched to the key case folder A,the outer small ends of the rivets 40 being concealed between the fla and folder. Often such flaps are stitched to the key case only along their upper, ends so that the flap can be swung up war face of the flap. A key case of this type is shown in my prior U. S. Letters Patent N 0. 1,443,937, granted January 30, 1923. The flap usually bends along the lower edge of the key holder support and the support of this invention, by reason of .its exceedingly small width, is especially useful with this type of case in that it aflords increased freedom of access to the pocket by enabling the flap to bend along a line higher up on the case than was formerly possible,

The user of la key case, embodying the support of this invention has a better article, stronger, more attractive in appearance and better calculated to retain its initial attractive appearance, an important consideration when onebuys an expensive, nicely-plated model. The purchaser of an expensive model does not have to throw the case away if by chance a key holder should become broken. A new key holder can be obtained and easily and quickly substituted. Not only this, but he is enabled to shift, rearrange and exchange ke holders in the case according to his indivi ual whims or desires.

It enables one to conveniently lay aside the key holders, which carry keys not'often used,

' placing them in the key case only when they are likely to-be needed. Qne can thereby avoid carrying a heavy and bulky case, such as might be necessary for all ones keys, by.

using extra key holders in conjunction with a er case and loading the case up with the desired key holders at the start of the day .h I

e invention therefore marks a wide departure from present and former standards and provides a greatly improved key holder sup ort which offers important advantages botlito-the manufacturer and user and which contributes to the production of a materially im roved key case.

- e. invention has been disclosed herein for illustrative urposes but the scope of the invention is dedhed by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

What I claim is: i 1. Akey case comprising a flexible sheet of protecting material fold'able on itself to cover keys and a stifl key supporting device, said device includin a relatively narrow back support fastene adjacent an edge of said sheet, a front support of substantially the same area as the back support and superimposed. thereon, key holders removably mounted in the front support for inde- 5 pendent pivotal movement, means, on the dly to gain access to a pocket on the. rear back support to prevent the removal of said key holders, said front support having a movable mounting on the back support whereby the user may move the front sup port out of the range of saidmeans to re-- lease the key holders for removal from the case as desired. v

2. A key supporting device for a key case comprising a back support,a front support, key holders removably mounted in the front support for independent pivotal movement,

means on the'back support to prevent, the

removal of the key holders, said front sup"- port having a movable mounting on the backsupport for the user to place the parts within and outside. of the range ,of said means 1 whereby the key holders ma beheld in position or removed from the 'ront support as desired. i a

3. A key supporting devicefor akey case comprising a back support, afront support -movably mounted on the back support and having a plurality of spaced slots, key holders mounted in said slots and removable at one end thereof, means on the back support to prevent the removal of the key holders at such end, v.saidgfront support being'movable to place the ends of its slots within the range and outside the range of said means whereby the user may remove the key holders when desired i j 4. A device for supportingkeys in a key case comprising two' supports mounted together for relative sliding movements, key holders removably mounted in one support for independent movement, means on the other supportto prevent the removal of the key holders when the supports are-in one relative position and to permit such removal when they are in another relative position and means tendin to resist the movements of such supports rom one relative position 1 to the other.

5. A device for supporting keys in akey case comprising two supports mounted together for relative sliding movements, independent key holders removably mounted in spaced relation in one of said supports,

spaced means on the other support corres-,

case comprising, a series of key holders having heads by meansof which they. are pivotally supported, and supporting means therefor comprising two slidably connected parts between which said. heads are enthe relative shifting movement of said parts compassed. to the predetermined range necessary to al- 7 The combination in a key case of a suplow the covering and uncovering of said port for the key holders thereof, comprising, openings.

a back part, means for fastening the same 10. A key holder support, comprising, in- 30 to the case, and a front part for pivotally terengaged and relatively shiftable parts by supporting the key'hoiders, said front part which the key holders are supported fgr belng interengaged with the back part and swinging movement, one of said parts havserving to conceal said fastening means. ing openings through whichthy key holders 10 -8. A ke holder support, comprising, 'inmay be removed, the other part when in one435- terengage and relatively shiftable parts by position serving to cover said openings but Which the key holders are supported for when shifted to another position serving to swinging movement, one of said parts havuncover the same, and means for resisti g ing openings through which the key holders relative shifting of said parts constructed may be removed, the other part when in one exert increasing resistance when the pm 40 Y position serving to cover said openings and are shifted beyond the range necessary to i when shifted to another position to uncover cover and uncover said openings.

, the same, and means resisting relative shift- 11. A key holder support comprising ining of said parts and tending to hold the last terengaged and relatively shiftable parts named part in the first named position. from which the key holders are supported. 45

9. Akey holder support comprising, interfor swinging movement, and openings proengaged and relatively shiftable parts by vided in ,oneof said parts through which the which the key holders are supported for key holders may be'removed, the other part; swinging movement, one of said parts havwhenin one position serving to cover said *ing openings through which the keyholders openings'but when shifted to another pobu may be removed, the other part when in one sition serving to uncover the same. position servingto cover said-openings but In testnnony whereof I have aifixed my when shifted to another position servlng' to signature.

. uncover the same, and means forvlimiting I i R. BUXTQN. 

